Rules Are Rules For A Reason

We have seen a lot of the rules getting in the way lately.

A perfect game in baseball is prevented on what could have been the last play of the game because the umpire made a bad call. Baseball stuck by the rule book and did not change what looked like an easy change to make.

The U S Open, the leader of the Open loses his ball. After a five minute search he is receiving instruction from a golf official as to what he had to do to continue play when someone finds his ball. The USGA did not allow him to play the found ball because his search time limit was up, but play a new one. Justin Johnson was never close again in the final round.

Do you remember a decade ago the last play of a Missouri-Colorado football game in which the refs mistakenly gave Colorado an extra play. Colorado scored on the extra down to win the game.

$1.2 million out the door because of a simple rule of not buying a fishing license. This young man from Alexandria Virginia was the culprit in the Big Rock Tournament who fished but did not have a license.

My thoughts are baseball is no worse off today because they did not change a call to give a pitcher a perfect game. The fact is baseball now has a trivia question. The umpire’s admission of missing the call plus the player’s response has really made that one of the great teaching experiences of all time.

There is a golf course with 40,000 people on it and not one of those folks saw that ball land. They must have been following Tiger’s group. My problem was always while looking for my ball I might find ten of somebody else’s balls but never mine. I wonder whether they found one of my balls while they were looking for Johnson’s ball.


That Colorado-Missouri football game Bill McCarthy was the coach at Colorado. When asked it he would forfeit the game in order to makes things right McCarthy said no. McCarthy would later be the founder of religious group Promise Keepers. Doesn’t quite seem right does it.

You can look in the paper just about any day and see people who have had wrecks and are charged with driving without a license, failure to have insurance. This fellow who didn’t have a fishing license in the Big Rock Tournament says he didn’t know he needed to have a license, now I have heard he thought the entire boat was covered by a blanket license. If you have ever been in a civics class in high school there is one basic principle. Not knowing the law is no excuse. Say good bye to your share of $1.2 million.

If we don’t have rules and follow them then there is chaotic life. If you want to see what life is like with out following the rules go to your nearest court house and look at all those folks trying to get out of not following the rules.

Monday Not As Good As Sunday was

Rocky Mount American Legion Post 58 finished up their regular season Monday on the road at Wayne County. The game played at Mt Olive College saw Wayne County win 3-1. last night's game had no bearing on the playoffs and with the lost Post 58 finishes at 15-5 on the season.

They open the playoffs next Monday night at Gryphon Stadium with a best three of five series with New Bern. New Bern is seeded number four from the southern division of of area one. Post 58 weather permitting and if the games are necessary Post 58 would be home for game one on July 5th.7th and 9th. They would go to New Bern on the on the 6th and 8th. If they win the three of five series there is still two more series just to win the area before earning a right to go to the State Tournament.

Joe Bell's senior little league team was beaten by Raleigh 1-0 in the prep tournament in Smithfield. I believe the Rocky Mount American Midget team beat the Rocky Mount National team last night in Smithfield to win the Midget prep tournament.

North Carolina State has a new Chancellor in place and last week he named Debbie Yow as the new athletic director for the Wolfpack. This has gotten the hair up on the back of the neck of a few folks who pull for the Wolfpack. There was strong support for Bobby Purcell the director of the Wolfpack Club to be the AD.

I can't see at this time where this isn't a great hire by State. Purcell has the Wolfpack Club as the number one club per win in the big three sports per dollar raised. Keep Purcells right where he is raising money. The last fifteen years at Maryland I think the Wolfpack nation would trade their fifteen years for theirs and Yow has been their leader during that time.

Sunday Was A Good Day for Rocky Mount

Rocky Mount Legion Post 58 took care of business in Edenton last night knocking off Post 40 in a double header and by doing so took the North division of area one first place. The scores were 11-7 and 10-6. Brandon Denton won game two of the double header on the mound for 58. Post 58 closes out their regular season tonight at Mount Olive College as they play Wayne County. Post 58 is now 15-4 and were 8-1 in the northern division beating Wilson who finihed 7-2. Both of their losses were at the hands of Post 58. The Legion Playoffs begin next week after the fourth of July.

Tonight in Smithfield the Midget League American League all stars square off against the National League all stars with the winner claiming the title in this pre Tar Heel Little League tournament. Jeremy Stewart's American league plays Tim Killebrew's team tonight.

Also in Smithfield the American League Senior Little league lead by Joe Bell's all stars go for the Senior crown.

Who's the best amongst our Midget and Senior little leaguers will be decided starting Wednesday night as the American and National Midgets and the American and National Senior little leaguers square off against each other in a two out of three grudge match at the little league fields at the sports complex.

Both the Midgets and Senior little league play a double header against each other Wednesday and if necessary will play a third game Thursday at Stith-Talbott Park. The Sports complex is hosting another tournament which starts Thursday so that is why they will not play at the complex.

Saturday night got a chance to see the first five minutes or so of the Junior Miss Pageant from Mobile Alabama. It was on the internet and as our family huddled around the computer got to see during the opening shots of the girls Hannah McMillan of Rocky Mount feeding a giraffe at the Mobile Zoo. They were in the midst of doing the opening number in which Hannah started out on the front row in the dance routine in which the girls were doing and one at a time they came to the front to be introduced. Just as they were getting to Delaware we lost the live streaming and by the time we got it back up Hannah had already been introduced and the top ten picked. Miss Idaho won.

Powerhouse In Baseball

If you have ever wondered why Rocky Mount High won a state baseball title a couple of years back and three of the last four years either Northern Nash or Rocky Mount has made it to the eastern finals, it all started on the recreation fields in Rocky Mount and Nashville.

This weekend, the City of Rocky Mount sent its three Little League divisions and lower teams to a tournament in Smithfield as a warmup for the upcoming state tournaments. The Pee Wee's, the seven and eight year old who have played all season with a pitching machine, lost today to knock them out of the finals in the 7/8-year-old championship bracket for Monday.

The nine- and ten-year-olds, the Midgets, both the American and National League, have made it to the finals of the Smithfield tournament and will play each other for the title Monday night.

The Senior Little League, the 11/12-year-olds, also played and the National League team got knocked out on Saturday, but the American League team plays for the championship Monday night in Smithfield against a team from Raleigh, the Capitols. The National league won a consolation game Sunday afternoon to win the consolation bracket.

This Wednesday night at the sports complex, the Midget American League team and the National League square off again in a two out of three against each other. This comes after just playing each other on Monday night in Smithfield.

The senior 11/12 will also square off against each other Wednesday in a two of three against each other. If either wins a game on Wednesday night, and this includes the Midgets they meet in a third game Thursday night at Stith Talbott Park who decides who is the best all star team in Rocky Mount in each age group.

All of these games are a preliminary to the Tar Heel State tournaments which start July 6 with district tournaments and if any Rocky Mount team wins the district, they will advance to the State Tournament.

Post 58's Legion team has just beaten Edenton Post 40 in the first game of a doubleheader to take first place in the conference for the season. Parker Helms pitched into the fifth inning and Jeremy Sloop and Bill Clark finished off on the mound for 58. Collins Cuthrell and Thomas Berry provided the home run power for Post 58.

Edenton lost last night to Wilson and in doing so, pretty much eliminated it from any possible first place if they could have swept 58 Sunday night. The victory runs Post 58 to 14-4 on the year and 7-1 in league play. Wilson is 7-2, but both of those losses have come at the hands of Post 58 so regardless of the outcome of game two 58 is in first play when the playoffs start. We believe they start July 6 at Gryphon Stadium.

Post 58 plays a meaningless game Monday night at Wayne County, which it might very well may face at some point in time in the playoffs.

The Opportunity To Win

Any coach will tell you their goal in any game is at the end of the game have a shot at winning. Sunday night Post 58 travels to Edenton and meets Post 40 in a double header which will decide the seeding for the up coming Legion playoffs. Rocky Mount wins game one they are the number one seed from our area regardless of what happens in the second.

A double header sweep and Post 58 finishes 8-1 in league play and the regular season champs for the second season in a row. A split could wind up in a tie with Wilson but Post 58 has won two of three against Post 13 this season had have the tie breaker. A double header lost could seed them all the way to third place. Third place would put the on the road first in the playoffs instead of home like first or second place provides.

Coach Hank Jones told me last Sunday that if necessary he would ask Hobbs Johnson to be in Edenton for Sunday night's game to pitch game one. Johnson who is in summer school at Carolina has become a weekend warrior for Post 58 the last two weeks since second session started. I suspect Brandon Denton will get the call in game two. It has seemed as if the last couple of games with the heat and playing so many games in a short period of time the players will relish this three days off before Sunday night's double header.

I have been on line checking out the Junior Miss pageant which is not on national TV this year. Hannah McMillan Rocky Mount's and North Carolina's Junior Miss will be waiting word whether she will be a finalist tonight. There is no TV but you can see it on the internet at www.local15tv.com.

I will blog as soon as there is anything to report Sunday night on the ball game and return to this blog if Hannah makes the finals tonight.

Mind And Mouth Need To Work Together

The public address announcer at a ball game is just like the man doing play-by-play on the radio. Folks listening on the radio can’t see you made a mistake unless you tell them.

If you have ever had the privilege to go in any professional press box like at Yankee Stadium, the PA announcer is in a room by himself. There are no distractions around him other than his scorecard and any messages that he is suppose to pass on to those at the game.

The local PA announcer, however, hears the raft of parents if you mispronounce their son’s name. I don’t know why people can’t have simple names like Doughtie or Cuthrell. If you have ever looked at a lineup card, the PA announcer gets carbon copy No. 3 and you hope the coaches have written their lineup out hard enough to read it.

The last home game for Post 58 during one of the bats by Tyler Clark, I was told I called him Tyler Joyner. Even after I said it, I didn’t know that is what I said. Mouth and mind were not on the same page.

A double duty for the PA man at Legion games is running the scoreboard. You don’t realize how fast paced baseball can be until a pitch was thrown and you are talking in the press box about the last play. Was that a ball or strike? So any time you look up and the score board shows a 3-2 count and a new batter at the plate, I just might be announcing the next batter.

In our modern world of electronics, each player today wants his own personal music to play while his name is being introduced. I don’t mind doing music between innings, but I draw the line on playing the music for the batters while announcing their names and trying to clear the scoreboard of balls and strikes. I don’t play any music that I don’t know what is being said. Any music heard at Legion games the players sitting on the bench take turns being the music director for an inning. Blame them if the music is too loud.

If that is not enough for the PA man, they also help out keeping the scorebook. Was that a hit or error? I know in my case, I umpire real well from the press box. Some nights I can do the balls and strikes better from the press box than the umpire behind home plate can.

I can sit home on Sunday nights and watch some of the shows of ball games that we recorded six weeks ago. Those guys that do NFL games take all week preparing for just one game a week. Having a full-time job and part-time TV announcer, most of the preparation is finding out the starting lineups. This past week when we did the Little League championships, I didn’t even know who was playing until I was looking for the lineups.

The next time you hear the PA man say something you know is wrong or call the wrong players name just remember there is a lot that goes on in a press box, announcing players names, getting the music just right, keeping the scoreboard, but one other thing happens in a press box that is seriously important-getting another bite of that hot dog or bag of peanuts.

There is an art to being able to eat a dog between batters without announcing the next batter with a full mouth.

In my nearly 40 years of calling ball games I think I have reached the point where mistakes roll off my back. There was a time when I was crushed when I knew I had made a mistake. Now I am so use to it that you move forward. If you worry about the old mistakes it helps create new ones.

Seriously folks, regardless of what is said and done from the press box, we get an opportunity to watch kids perform while we are with friends. There are many places I could be where I can get into trouble. Unless I cuss over the air or yell at the ump over the PA, I feel like I can stay out of harms way at the ball game. Why don’t we all find a game to go to?

Play ball!

Yow-Hoo Pack Picks AD

Reports are all over the internet tonight that Debbie Yow little sister of the late Kay Yow will become the new athletic director at N C State. Those of you that don't know of Yow she is the athletic director at Maryland and has done so for fifteen years.

During her fifteen year reign at Maryland the Terps have won twenty national championships and athletic grade point averages are in the top twenty per cent of all division one schools. Yow is pro sports and pro academics. She has proven at Maryland they both can go together.

I think the Pack has hit a home run.

John Wall went number one in the NBA draft Thursday night. Now we will get a chance to see if he really is a wizard on the basketball court playing in Washington. Wall from Raleigh will now try to become the best basketball player ever from Raleigh. If he does so he will take that title away from "Pistol"Pete Maravich who graduated from Broughton.

Reports out of Boston says that Rasheed Wallace will retire from the NBA. It is hard to believe that he has been gone from Carolina that long. Wallace who played for the Tar Heels will retire as the all time leader in technical fouls in the NBA history. You have to say Wallace went out the way he played. After the Laker victory in the NBA finals Wallace camped out in front of the referees locker room still in uniform until time for the team Bus to leave then he went to the team hotel still in his uniform. I guess he wanted to get one more technical for old time sake.

I am sorry for feeling this way but this World Cup is way over blown. What, there has been three matches that the winning team scored three goals. This is suppose to be the best soccer players in the world and from thirty yards out no body for any team can score. Don't give me that NBA mumbo- jumbo that it's great defense. Just like the NBA nobody knows how to shoot. The USA has played three matches and scored four goals. Just think they were the best in their division.

There is no such thing as an off season any more. If you ride near any high school campus this week all of the fall sports teams are beginning conditioning for the up coming season.

Speaking of riding by a campus. Has any body been by the new Rocky Mount High School. You can actually tell that there is going to be a building soon in place. There are all kinds of posts and stuff sticking out of the ground.

Fundamentals

Recent Rocky Mount High School graduate Hannah McMillan is in Sun drenched skies and oil laden beaches of Mobile Alabama today competing in National Junior Miss Pageant. 51 girls are competing for the title. I think the TV coverage is Saturday night on TLC. Here is a circumstance where a good light is being shone on Rocky Mount. We need to all be behind Hannah. If she could make the top ten or what ever Junior Miss calls their cut list, it would gives us good news instead of what we have most of the time. Good luck Hannah!

Baseball is considered a sport that you may see something in any game that you might never see in a game again. Here is a few examples’ of plays you don’t see everyday.

The recent little league finals a ground ball was hit to the short stop with a runner on second base. The short stop faked at if he was going to throw to first, instead he held on to the ball and the runner on second took off and ran right into the short stop holding the ball to tag him out. If I remember correctly Whit Casper was the short stop and that was a nice play on his part to get the runner at second.

The home Rocky Mount Legion game against Wilson there was a ground ball hit between first and second base and first baseman Matt Berry and second baseman Michael Whitehead were not able to come up with the ball which rolled to right field. Spencer Bell who was covering first from the pitcher’s mound was on the base after the runner rounded first and right fielder Fuller Weatherly threw back to Spencer Bell who caught the runner off base after getting a single. This was a clear case of a player Spencer Bell doing the fundamentals of the game and Weatherly executing a good throw and was able to get an out after just giving up a hit to the same batter.

Even last night in the Edenton-Rocky Mount Legion game how many times to you see a steal of home. You see this on the high school level that a runner is on first and takes off to second. A base runner is on third and the runner going to first tries to get into a run down where the runner on third takes off for home. If the runner from third scores that is considered a steal of home. Rocky Mount pulled that off last night, later in the game an Edenton base runner actually stole home the old fashion way beating the pitchers pitch to home before he could be tagged out. When was the last time that you saw both teams steal home in one game?

We all in life have fundamental things we do everyday that go unnoticed because they are basic things The ball field the team that does the basic’s the best most of the time wins games. There are other times when we don’t do basic things in life and they cost us dearly.

We have heard about the young man from Alexandria Virginia who didn’t have a license this past weekend in the Big Rock Fishing Tournament and got his team disqualified. In the process his team lost the $912,000 first prize, plus a bonus of over $300,000 for catching the first Blue marlin in the tournament that weighed over 500 pounds.

The license could have been bought for $10. Fishing without a license in North Carolina is $35 plus $125 cost of court. The young man did buy a license two hours after their boat got back to shore. The Tournament found out about it when the winning boat members had to take a lie detector test to prove that they didn’t cheat during the tournament.

A ten dollar fishing license basic fundamentals of fishing.

Post 58 blows 10-run lead

Edenton Post 40's Daniel Oliver hit a solo homer leading off the top of the ninth inning to bring Edenton back to dead even with Post 58 at 11-11. It would get runners on first and third before Brandon Denton shut the door on Edenton.

The first two Post 58 batters went quietly in the bottom of the ninth and Spencer Bell coaxed a walk to get on runner on base. Collins Cuthrell forced a 2-1 count when Chad Whitehead, the Post 40 hurler, threw a wild pitch that rolled around the backstop area. It was enough to allow Bell to make it all the way to third. Edenton intentionally walked Cuthrell and up stepped Thomas Berry, who drills a ball to right center and the game is history as Post 58 outslugs Post 40 12-11

Edenton got its lead runner on in eight of the nine innings and seemed to threaten every inning. Lost in all the late-inning scoring was that Jeremy Sloop pitched six good innings for Post 58 and left the game leading 11-4 with only two runs earned. Not only did Brandon Denton get Post 58 out of a ninth-inning jam, but he wound up as the winning pitcher.

Post 58 had 17 hits to 16 for Post 40.

Kyle Norville led the hit parade for Post 58 gong 4-for-4. Thomas Berry not only had the winning hit, but two others to boot. Bell, Matthew Berry, Mike Smith and Cameron Ramsey each had two hits. Tyler Clark and Parker Helms had a hit apiece.

Post 58 finishes up it conference play Sunday with a doubleheader at starting at 5 p.m. at Historic Hicks Field in Edenton. All Post 58 needs is one win in the doubleheader to collect the No. 1 seed when the playoffs start on July 5.

Edenton plays Wilson Post 13 Saturday night and then plays 58 Sunday. If 58 loses both games and Edenton beats Wilson Saturday night then a three-way tie for first will occur and don't ask me how we pick the top two teams. First and second place in our division will play the third and fourth seeds, respectively, from the Goldsboro-Kinston-Greenville area at home in the first game of a best of five series. Third place starts on the road at the No. 2 seed from that same area.

Post 58 is 6-1 in conference play and 13-4 overall. Wilson Post 13 is 4-2 and now Edenton is 3-3 setting up the big weekend finish. If we tie Wilson, we own the tiebreaker since we beat its squad two of three.

Life will be made much simpler if we win one game Sunday.

Legion Wins Again-Then Loses

Rocky Mount American Legion Post 58 disposed of Ahoskie Post 102 last night 13-2 in eight innings. Post 58 is now 5-0 in conference play with four games this week remaining against the teams that could dethrone them at the top spot in the league.

Tonight at 7.00pm Post 58 host arch rival Wilson Post 13. Rocky Mount has already beaten Wilson twice this season but Wednesday night Edenton Post 40 will be at Gryphon Stadium and next Sunday at 5.00pm Rocky Mount travels to Edenton for a 5.00pm doubleheader. Any combination of losses in any of these four games could knock Post 58 from the top spot.

Post 58 started a stretch of four games that could mean first place if they win two out of four, lose all four and they drop to third place. Tonight Post 58 held a 6-1 lead in the top of the sixth and give up six runs the most they have given up in any inning this year and lose to Wilson Post 13 7-6.

Matthew Berry had three rbi's while Collins Cuthrell, Kyle Norville and Michael Whitehead chip in a run batted in.

Avery Harper came in to pitch in the bottom of the fifth when Rocky Mount scored four times on starter Zac Lee and shut the door on Post 58. Kyle Shields came in in the eighth to finish of Post 58.

Spencer Bell gave 58 five good innings but ran out of gas in the sixth. Jeremy Trevathan came in to hold Post 13 after his first batter got a hit and eventually scored what was the winning run.

Post 13 had fourteen hits to twelve for Post 58. This loss Makes 58 5-1 in conference play. Wilson is now 4-2 and Edenton comes to Gryphon Stadium Wednesday night with a 3-2 record and they have one game left with Wilson and three with Post 58.

The top two seeds get home games in the first round of the playoff while the number three starts on the road. To say the least this game Wednesday night is huge.

Prime Time Golf

If there is one advantage to playing golf on the west coast those of us back here in the east can watch golf to bedtime. I liked Saturday night's prime time coverage. Sunday the golfing world wants to make sure if there is any weather delay they can still finish on Sunday so Sunday finished an hour sooner than Saturday night.

I played golf a lot during my earlier years. This time of year when you can get and extra thirty yards from a hard ground on good days I could make 82 or 83. Five times in my life I broke 80. twice I shot 75, once 76, 77 and once 78. When I had scores like that those were the days that I played like Tiger played on Saturday or Phil Mickelson on Friday. I could knock the pin down or make fifty foot putts. Everything went in.

The next time I played I was lucky to break 90. There were three 66's shot this week at the U S Open. Phil Mickelson shot his on Friday and backed it up with a 74 on Saturday. Tiger Woods sent electrical charges through the crowd in prime time Saturday night and followed up Sunday with a 75. Little known Dustin Johnson match Tiger with a 66 on Saturday and followed his greatest round with the second worse final round score from the leader going into the final round 82.

Golf is a hard game to play relaxed. While you are on the course you don't have to worry about any problems of the world only that little ball that I can hit out of sight sometimes will not go where I want it too. You see when I hit it out of sight it is in the woods.

The last time I played golf which I think was in 2002. A business friend from California was at work with me and wanted to play golf on a North Carolina Course. We went to Northgreen during the period it was not in it's best shape. I had not played before that day in three or four years.

Number one at Northgreen is a par five. I drove my first drive about 240 yards making a nice easy swing hoping not to knock out a window of a home on the first hole. I don't have a club in my bag that off the ground I can hit 200 yards so I layed up nicely short of the green with my second shot. I pitched to fifteen feet from the hole and two putted for par.

You would have thought I had won the US Open. Hadn't played golf in three years but I haven't lost a thing. I'm going to show my friend a 80 today. The second hole I was in the fairway 200 yards short. Now remember I can't get on the green 200 yards away but todayI could. I hit a three wood about 120 yards deep in the woods on the right leading to a triple bogie. Boy, my dream of shooting 80 turn into a fifteen foot putt on the last hole for 100.

I haven't played golf since.

Why is it some days the ball knows where to go and then others it does what it wants to do just like today's teenagers.

I loved playing golf. Wish I could play now. I love being miserable on the golf course, because every fifteen shots I play like Tiger.

Weekend Warrior

Hobbs Johnson is now a freshman at UNC as he is in summer school at Chapel Hill. Hobbs played right field in yesterday's first game of the double header with Ahoskie. He was 0-3 in the game and looked as if he was rusty. Today Hobbs toed the hill for Coleman Pitt Post 58 in a match of two power eastern North Carolina legion programs. He was rusty batting but he looked like Hobbs Johnson the Carolina pitcher for more than six innings today as Coach Hank Jones shook his hand as he took in out of the game in the seventh. Johnson allowed seven hits in six and one third innings but struck out seven and walked only two batters. He left the mound leading 6-4 with a runner on third and relief pitcher Jeremy Trevathan shut the door in the seventh and only allowed one base runner in two and two thirds innings of relief work earning the save.

Collins Cuthrell got Post 58 rolling in the first with a two run homer. Spencer Bell who open the game with a hit scored ahead of Cuthrell. The third inning Post 58 plated three runs on rbi's by T J Taylor and two by Kyle Norvelle. A single run scored in the fifth after back to back singles by Taylor and Norville put runners on first and third and Parker Helms hit a sac fly to center. Post 58 close out their scoring adding two extra runs in the eighth on a two rbi hit by Spencer Bell.

Post 58 pounded out twelve hits to eight by Wayne County. Spencer Bell , Collins Cuthrell, T J Taylor, Kyle Norvelle and Parker Helms all had rbi's in the game. Kyle Norvelle had three hits, Spencer Bell and Tyler Clark and T J Taylor had two each. Collins Cuthrell, Jeremy Sloop and Michael Whitehead all had one hit.

Post 58 begins their last week stretch run as they have five conference games this week and it starts Monday night at Ahoskie. Tuesday and Wednesday will be the last home regular season games as they host Wilson Tuesday and Edenton Wednesday. Sunday night they play in Edenton a double header which will close out conference play. They finish the regular season Monday June 28th at Wayne County.

There was talk today that the rain out with Post 39 may be made up during the week waiting for the playoffs which begin July 5th to keep from being idle for a whole week before the playoffs.

Post 58 is now 11-3 and 4-0 in conference play but as far as seedings is concerned this is the week with five games.

Heat,Pitching and Hot Dogs

Rocky Mount American Legion Post 58 swept a doubleheader from Ahoskie Post 102 Saturday afternoon at Gryphon Stadium.

Post 58 score eight runs in the bottom of the first inning in game one on seven hits and all but ended game one. Cameron Ramsey's bases loaded double cleared the bases. The Berry boys Thomas and Matthew both had rbi's along with Jeremy Sloop, Parker Helms pitched a five inning two hitter as Post 58 ten rule ruled Ahoskie in the opener 11-0 in five innings.

T J Taylor, Tyler Clark and Jeremy Sloop had two hits in game one. Matthew and Thomas Berry had a hit as well as the Cameron Ramsey's Double. Helms struck out five and walked two and also hit a batter but kept Post 102 at bay.

Between games both teams enjoyed hot dogs and hamburgers which were cooked by Steve Trevanthan. All any of us needed in game two was a recliner with the heat of the day and the hot dogs both teams were in Slow motion.

Brandon Denton who tested his shoulder for the first time since the Clayton game pitched four good innings for Hank Jones before Jones used three other pitchers for an inning a piece Trellis Ashley, Kyle Norvelle and Bill Clark. Denton had six strikeouts and Norvelle struck out the side his one inning and Ashley stuck out one in his inning for a total of ten on the game. Denton gave up four hits which would be all the hits Post 102 would get.

T J Taylor had a pop up double that nobody for Post 102 wanted to catch which plated two runs. Kyle Norvelle backed Taylor's double with a three bagger to produce the only rbi's in the game. The heat pouring down both teams managed to get through seven innings which was agreed by both coaches prior to the start of each game. Post 58 5 and Post 102 zero.

Fuller Weatherly was the only 58 player to get two hits. Tyler Clark had a single,T J Taylor's double, Kyle Norvelle's triple and the other hit was gotten by Michael Whitehead.

Post 58 hits the diamond Father's day Sunday afternoon playing Wayne County at 3.00pm at NC Wesleyan College. Post 58 is now 10-3 on the season but are 4-0 in conference play.

Post 58 Wins Showdown

Just Wednesday Greenville Post 39 and Rocky Mount Post 58 lost a game with each other due to a rain out but fair skies prevailed in Greenville on Thursday. Kyle Norville pitch three scoreless innnings of relief to preserve an 8-5 victory for Post 58.

Norville helped the cause with a two run homer and three hits in the game but 58 had plenty of help as Matthew Berry and Collins Cuthrell also reached base safely three times. This non-conference victory ups Post 58 record to 8-3 while Post 39 suffered only their second loss of the season.

Post 58 will host Ahoskie Post 102 Saturday at 1.00pm in a double header which is a conference battle. heading towards Saturday Post 58 is 2-0 in conference play.

What in the world has happened to basketball. I sat through one of the worse games I have ever tried to watch last night with the Lakers beating the Celtics 84-79. If you remember I complained that the NCAA championship game was a football game and I think last night was closer to a rugby game. There is no art to the way that officiating has taken basketball any more. The worse part of all is I was watching at the end. Stupid me.

I am trying to put together information on all our college players and what they are doing this summer. I understand that Brian Goodwin is playing in the Cape Cod league. The Cape Cod league is considered the premier summer college baseball league. Ben Fish and Xavier Macklin are in the Coastal league. I will try to find out about all our guys.

While the NBA was in commercial last night I was clicking the dial and ran across the Wilson Tobs. Channel 20 on the cable was doing the game live last night from Wilson. I say bravo to the station. We need more live local programming and I am not just talking about sports

City Announces All-Star Teams

The Senior Little League Championship this past Tuesday night was the conclusion of the baseball season for the spring for the City Of Rocky Mount Parks & Recreation Department. All that is left now is the All-star teams in their state competitions. Here is a list of the players and coaches representing us.

Coach-Pitch National League All-Stars or Pee Wees. The National league has already qualified for the State Tournament.

Co-Coach: Chad Fluno
Co-Coach: Brad Bazemore
Asst Coaches; Paul Legaj and Randall Mills

Players:
Will Bazemore-Austin Luttrell-Sam Mills-Cana Schrock
Caleb Fluno-Brian Moore-Andrew Page-Benjamin Sieracki
Colin Legaj-Jackson Reid-Woodall Rose-Johnathan Weeks

Coach -Pitch American league All-Stars or Pee Wees The American League will play in a district tournament in order to qualify for state tournament.

Co-Coach: Ivey Powell
Co-Coach: Johnny Ramsey
Asst Coaches: Kevin Summerlin,Gary Hart and Dexter Arrington

Players:
Darin Arrington-Hunter Bailey-Brandon Gay
Evan Hart-Drake Hodges-Quinton Mangano-
Conner Powell-Austin Ramsey-Charlie Rooks
Austin Summerlin-Victor Ward Jr-Thomas Wilder

Midget League National League All Stars (9/10 Yrs old) The National league will start in the district tournament.

Co-Coach: Tim Killebrew
Co-Coach: Don Whitley
Asst coach: Mark Silveri

Players:
Braxton Andrews-Colby Carter-Silas Gonzalez
Chase Johnson-Max Keeter-Garrett Killebrew
Trevor Mills-James Moss- Landon Silveri
Nathan Taylor-Isaiah Thomas- Trey Whitley

Midget League American League All Stars (9/10) The American League will play in a district tournament

Co Coach: Jeremy Stewart
Co-Coach: Matthew Dorsey
Asst-Coach: Bruce Rhodes

Players:
Dwight Daniels-Matthew Dickerson-Silas Dorsey
Cody Fuller-David Harrison-Dylan King
Andrew Meade-Jacob Medlin-Zachary Patterson
Joshua Pittman-Tanner Rhodes-Tyler Sherrod- Will Stewart

Little League American League All-Stars (11/12) Will start in a district tournament

Coach: Joe Bell
Asst Coach: Norman Chambliss
Asst Coach: Jim Keeter

Players:

Forrest Bell-Whitman Casper-Wesley Drake
Cody Goff-Will Hedgepeth-Blake Helms
Justin Hicks-Kaelan-James Jones-Zack Keeter
John Michael Kelly-Chad Nelms- Logan Pearce-Dawson Sikes

Little League National League All- Stars (11/12) will start out in a district tournament, the National League is the Defending State champions

Players:

Tyler Barrett-Trey Braswell-Darrius Cooper
Dylan Hedgepeth-Kyle Holland-Reid Johnston
Luke Mills- Jacob Pridgen-Matthew Rhodes
Landen Roupp-Noah Schrock-Christian Tafoya-Cameron Vick

Congratulations to all who will represent Rocky Mount in tournament play. Bring us some more state titles.

Washed Out

Tonight's Legion game between Post 39 from Greenville and Post 58 from Rocky Mount was rained out by a cloud that just would not go away. Radar showed clear just on the out skirts of Rocky Mount but the cloud kept building and building. It was never a heavy rain but after about and hour and a half the short stop area began to look like a mud hole.

Sometimes you can be so close to something you can't see it because it is so close. Tonight's game will probably not be made up because this is a non-conference game and now that the league play has started, a non-conference game messes with you pitching set up for conference games.

I have told you on this web site that Greenville is in our conference but they are not. I could not figure out why we play four of the five league members three times and Greenville only twice. Now I know.

Post 58 is back in action Thursday with a trip to Greenville and Post 39. 39 coming in tonight's game was 10-1 on the season. Winterville no longer has a Legion team so all of the Pitt county schools are back with Post 39 the way it use to be.

Rocky Mount Gryphon Benton Moss was named pitcher of the year in the Big East Conference. Boy what a surprise that is! Moss leads a contingent of four Gryphons who made the all conference team. Collins Cuthrell Thomas Berry and Hobbs Johnson.

This tid bit of information comes from Charles Alston and this is hard to believe but true. Thomas Berry had 16 hits on the season. Ten home runs and six singles. Not one double or triple

Mathew Berry and Spencer Bell were second team and Michael Whitehead was honorable mention all conference.

T J Taylor from Nash Central was the only other Nash County player who made all conference.

Rumors have been flying around about all these Super Conferences in college football and Texas kind of spoiled the party for everyone. they are staying put in the Big Twelve. The dust may not be settled yet if Notre Dame makes a move but with no Super Conference being formed the pressure is not really on Notre Dame any more to join a conference.

The Pac 16 will only be twelve with only Colorado and Utah joining. The P-12 just knew with Texas coming they were going to be THE conference in football. In the end they got the worse two teams of the six they thought they were going to get.

Marlins win Little League Crown

It took all night, but by 9.15 Tuesday evening, the Marlins had beaten Yankees in the second game of a doubleheader 6-5 to win the Rocky Mount Parks and Recreation Little League championship.

The Marlins, the only team unbeaten in the city's year-ending tournament, played the Yankees at 5.30 and all they had to do was beat the Yankees and they were the champs.

Sam Toler and his Yankees were not willing to go down without a fight and beat the Marlins 4-1 in game one setting up the winner take-all second game and doubleheader.Tyler Barrett Darren Simpkins each had two hits in the victory.

Momentum clearly was on their side as the Yankees scored twice in the bottom of the first to lead the Marlins 2-0 in game two. The Marlins scratched five runs across the plate in the top of the second and they would never give up the lead, but almost.

In the bottom of the third, the Yankees had the bases loaded and at one point nobody out, but with one out, they hit a pop-up to short right field that was going to be trouble for the Marlins. But second baseman Scooter Jones caught the ball almost on the right field line and threw the tagging runner on third out at home and the Yankees got, nothing when they were poised to take the lead.

The Marlins scored one in the fifth and the Yankees had two in the fifth and one in the sixth but only one run in the bottom of the sixth left them one run short and the Joe Bell led Marlins are the city champs of Rocky Mount Little league.

The Marlins can give as much credit to their defense for the victory as their glove work that kept them from giving up the lead .

Peyton Myrick and myself did the Midget League championship last week and two games today for the Stretchlon Sports Show. You could not have asked for any better games than these three. The Marlins won the 9-10 year old Midget League title 12-10 by putting two runners out at home in the last inning and tonight the Yankees had their chances. but they came up a run short.

I hope later in the week we will be able to provide for you all of the All-Stars players representing Rocky Mount in the playoffs this year.

Post 58's Legion team is home at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Gryphon Stadium.

Legion Wins Again

Tonight Coleman-Pitt Post 58 ran past Wilson Post 13 for the second time in a week winning tonight at home 9-3. This makes 58 2-0 in conference play and 7-3 and sets up a showdown Wednesday night at Gryphon Stadium against Pitt County Post 39.

I have had a Monday of all Mondays today and missed the game tonight due to car trouble. To make a long story short I had my gold Chevy Luv pickup in the shop and my wife Pat's car is what I have been driving to work with my truck in shop. As I left work today around 4.00pm My Ignition system would not allow my key to go into the key hole and it was after seven before I had any vehicle rolling. What a Day this has been.

Congratulation to Collins Cuthrell who early last week signed with Barton College to play baseball. Collins had been looking for any school that would allow him to play football and baseball and it looked as if Methodist in Fayetteville was going to be that school. I think baseball in college Collins will do real well probably at third base. He has surely over the past two years in high school and now a summer an a half of Legion proven that he can play in college any where.

Charles Alston is reporting on the Rocky Mount high web site that Former Gryphon Brian Goodwin has made the Louisville Slugger freshman All American team. Brian led Carolina in Rbi's this season and tied the school record for most triples in a season.

The ACC will send two teams to the College World Series this weekend and Clemson joined Florida State today. Virginia unless they score a dozens runs in the bottom of the ninth will get white washed by Oklahoma.

Finally some sanity comes to college football. Texas and Oklahoma have decided to stay put in the Big Twelve conference. This means that Nebraska and Colorado are the only two teams to jump ship. This leaves Notre Dame as what I feel is having to make a decision about joining a football conference. If the major conferences continue to line up in even bigger super conferences they are going to tell Notre Dame sorry but you are not in our playoff format.

After all the hoopla about the Big Twelve dissolving wouldn't it be something if the Irish joined the Big 12. Wouldn't that be a slap at the Big ten if that happened.

Future Is Bright

This Spring the Lady Gryphons soccer team stopped a seven year conference winning streak at Fike and in doing so won the number one seed in the conference . Three players from that team made all conference. Kelsey Benson, Casey Cooke and Sydney Browder. All three return next year.

I told you I was going to find out what I could about a wooden bat league. Today they play at Faith Christian School's baseball field at 1.00pm. The players from the area that I know about on this team are Former Rocky Mount players Chad Womble, Dillon Cockrell and Gabe Brown. Alex Pearce from Nash Central and Andrew Webb from Northern Nash are some of the players on the team.

Post 58 has not played since last Tuesday night and they will return to action Monday night as they host Wilson Post 13. Post 13 did play another conference game last week and lost to Pitt County Post 39 14-13. I hope being off six days that 58 doesn't show any rust.

The ACC sent four team to the Super regional of the NCAA baseball tournament. Virginia is the only team with zero losses. They can make it to the College World series with a win today over Oklahoma. Florida State can make it to the Series with a win today also but they are tied 1-1 in their series so they could also get sent home with a loss. Clemson loss the first game in their series 5-4 with Alabama and Miami (if you could ever say a team gave a game away this is it) has six errors in losing in extra innings to Florida. Miami's baseball season is over.

I need to vent just a little. I have a daughter Morgan who will turn 16 this Thursday. In no way would I allow her to drive to Raleigh by herself. How in heavens name can any parent allow a sixteen year old get on a sailboat and even try to sail around the world by themselves? This young girl who's mast has been beaten off the boat by high winds and waves is being rescued in the Indian Ocean.

First question who is going to pay all this money wasted on the rescue. There has to be people who become the first to do things. Charles Linburgh the first to fly solo across the Atlantic. Look what that opened up to the world by his courage. I don't see where this young girl being the youngest ever to sail around the world is important at all.

We spend a lot of money rescuing people being stupid. Climbing mountains etc. People have to risk their lives to save these fools. I don't care how bad the economy is, when there is enough money to spend it doing ridiculous things as this then we have too much money.

Everchanging World

Today, Nash County will send another flock of graduates out into the world. It there is one thing that we all have to understand is nothing is ever the same. Those who adjust as the world unfolds think everything is just like it always was. When we look back, the world is nothing like my graduation day.

The TV had three network. CBS, NBC and ABC. Hard to believe ESPN is still almost 10 years away.

I use to spin records as a disc jockey. Today when you go into a radio station, no one has a turntable.

If I needed to call home, I'd go to a phone booth and put a dime in the phone and called my dad. Can you find a phone booth today? If you did, there was a book to look up any number, today you'd only see torn out pages.

If you wanted to get updated news, the newspaper came early in the morning or here in Rocky Mount, the Evening Telegram landed in the early afternoon. There was no local 5 a.m. newscast, no CNN keeping us up to the minute in the world.

You could go to a service station and someone there filled you up and checked the oil and you never got out of the car. And we call this world we live in progress?

You use to park right in front of the business on Main Street that we wanted to go to. Today, we walk a mile in the parking lot just to walk another mile once inside the mall.

I could walk in a store, find what I wanted and be out in a jiffy. Today after walking that mile to find it and now stand in line a half hour to pay for it. Progress!

There was a time when going on a Sunday afternoon to park on Main Street and watch the cars go by or sit on your porch and enjoy life. Today it's too hot to be outside, so let's get into the air conditioning.

Today we have HD TV. The very first TV that I ever saw in color was President John F. Kennedy's funeral.

I wanted to be a millionaire. Today, if you only have 10 billion, you are considered working class.

Those that graduate today will one day ride on roads that will have electronic sensors that guide your car without a steering wheel.

Those that graduate today will one day be able to send by your TV screen into someone else home to see you as they talk to you. Sorry, we can already do that. Progress I can't keep up with it.

Graduates today, as you know, it will not be the same 30 years from now. My hope is that 30 years from now the official language of this country is not Chinese.

Punish The Guilty

The NCAA finally made their announcement of the infractions of the Southern Cal football team and other sports. Two years with out bowls games , a loss of thirty scholarships and forfeiting of games in 2004 and 2005.



I am no way a fan of the Trojans. The penalties that have been imposed are base on what happen in 2004-2005. Those guilty they are free as a bird. Reggie Bush took $300,000 dollars to buy a home, a car and look big on campus. Pete Carroll the football coach is off coaching the NFL now. Who is stuck with the pain?, but players who were not even there when this cheating occurred.

Yes the athletic director is the same and I say fire him. Don't hurt those that are blameless. Fine the school five million dollars and tell Pete Carroll he can never coach in the NCAA again but don't ruin college for those not responsible. Take away every trophy that Reggie Bush has linking him to the NCAA. Ban those that gave the money to never set foot on any college campus again. Just seems to me innocent until proven guilty means find somebody to punish.

My take on all this conference realignment is this is the first step to ending the NCAA as we know it. Football is going to be totally different from everything else. Why take the Texas tennis team and fly them to Spokane Washington for a conference game. That is ridiculous! Football is going to wind up being a division by itself and all other sports in another league. That's what greed will do for you.

Last night I was out at the Sports Complex and we did the Midget League championship game for the city of Rocky Mount. Marlins beat the Cubs 12-10 and the cubs had two runners out at home on force plays in the last inning. A really good game.

It doesn't really matter how old you are if both teams are even you can really has some fun watching good athletic events. This one surely was.

Pod System Approved By NCHSAA

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association has approve a Pod format during the 2010 football playoffs. Ever since the playoffs have been that all teams that met the four win rule got into the playoffs there are circumstances where a team from say Topsoil had to travel to Murphy in the first round. That's a long ways for a team that might be 1-9 go and lose 70 to 0.

The idea behind the pod system is you will play teams from your geographical area and after you win your pod you would by the third round be match up against another pod winner. This format is much like the NCAA baseball regional is set up but there is one major difference. There are no other conference members in your regional but if you are going to stay within your local geographical region why then will not all four of the Big East teams be in the same pod.

This is where this pod system sticks in my craw. I can easily see Rocky Mount and Northern Nash playing for the conference title one Friday night and turn around and play each other in the first round. Now that is ridiculous. You say that will never happen. If Northern had of beat Rocky Mount last year the way the other final games play out Rocky Mount would not have made the playoffs. Why then is it now conceivable that one team or the other could win the conference and the other fall to fourth and wind up playing again next week?

I really see a pod having three Big East teams and another in a pod. That would mean if the one seed is a big East, then second team could also be a Big East team, then third could be a Big East squad. The four seed could come from another conference.

That would match a 2/3 Big East opening round game and if the #1 seed the Big East wins then the second round is Big East against Big East. yuks!!!! Thats the first two rounds playing conference members.

I know with our economic conditions in the world today we are having to save at every turn. The easiest way to save is cut out one round of the playoffs and a 1-9 team will not have to travel any where but to basketball practice.

Most of the long drives for teams are mostly in the 1-A where all the 1-A schools are either in the extreme east or extreme west of the state. Eliminate on playoff game in 1-A or if there is a problem in 2-A cut out a game there too.

It seems to me they are taking from Peter to pay Paul but if Paul was only 3-7 last year he shouldn't be in the playoffs anyway.

Case closed!

School Year Is All But Over

Those who have to, today is retest day so the only high schoolers going to school today are those students sweating the results of today's test to pass their subjects.

Last night covered the Legion game for the Stretchlon Sports Show. I'm not sure whether TV can give you the feel that permeates a stadium when two team play a game with playoff implications. Rocky Mount and Wilson both knew from the playoffs last year that last night was a hugh game and you could feel it in the air. The game lived up to the feel.

Thursday night is the Rocky Mount recreation Midgett league championship game as Peyton on camera and I will there there at 5.30pm to cover it for the Stretchlon show. Now with high school sports through for this year legion and summer baseball takes over.

I am trying to get information on local players playing summer ball. Understand several locals are playing in a wooden bat league and Rocky Mount has a team and they play at home Sunday. Between now and then hope to give you some of the players.

The ACC will send four teams to the super regionals this weekend in college baseball. Virginia, Clemson, Forida State and Miami will play at least another weekend. If any of them win the two out of three series that each will be in then it is on to the college world series.

Lakers whip Boston in Boston last night to take a 2-1 in the NBA finals. That's a big MO changer after Boston had taken game two in LA.

Tonight could end the hockey season as the Chicago Blackhawks try to win their fourth game against Philadelphia two wins. Chicago has not won the Stanley Cup since 1961. One of the orginal franchises of the NHL has seen the Carolina Hurricanes win a cup since they have.

North Carolina pitcher Matt Harvey was the 7th player picked in this years baseball draft. Russell Wilson the N C State quarterback who was only a part time baseball player was drafted in the 4th round and that will be enough money to see if he really wants to quarterback the Wolfpack next fall.

Extra Inning Magic

Last year during their run to the state tournament Rocky Mount Post 58 kept pulling rabbits out of their back pockets and this season has started the same.

Hobbs Johnson starts on the mount and pitches six innings of two run ball and when he leaves Post 58 enjoys a 4-2 lead. A Jeremy Sloop home run ran the lead to 5-2. Parker Helms pitched a solid seventh inning but found nothing but trouble in the eighth as Wilson Post 13 plated five runs to take the lead 7-5. Bill Clark was able to extinguish the eighth inning rally.

T J Taylor lead off the top of the ninth with a towering home run which hit off the third row of advertising in right field. You could just feel that hit lift the entire team as still trailing 7-6 Matthew Berry walked reached third on a single by Kyle Norville. Michael Whitehead walked to load the bases still with one out. Jeremy Sloop hit a grounder to first who threw home to force Berry out at home. That made two outs and the bases still loaded and Fuller Weatherly walked on a 3-2 count to tie the game at 7.

Bill Clark held Wilson in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings. Rocky Mount was going quietly in the tenth inning until Thomas Berry stepped to the plate and hit a shot that last report was still sailing over the wall in right center field and heading to down town Wilson and post 58 had retaken the lead 8-7. Bill Clark retire the side in the tenth inning and Post 58 had done it to Wilson again winning 8-7.

If you remember last playoff season Rocky Mount and Wilson went to a fifth game and Post 58 was trailing by two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and scored three runs to take victory away from Wilson then and moved on to Play Cary for the right to go to the State Tournament.

If you got to this game late and didn't see but the last two and a half innings you saw a game right there tonight.

Post 58 will take a break for the high school graduations scheduled this weekend and will not return to action until Monday night when Wilson comes to Rocky Mount. Rocky Mount is now 1-0 in conference play while Wilson dropped to 1-1. Tarboro does not have a Legion team this season so the conference is made up of Rocky Mount, Wilson Greenville Post 39, Ahoskie and Edenton. The top four make the playoffs.

Legion Smacks Clayton Sunday

Pro scouts watching Post 58 launched 6 home runs out of the park at tiny Riverside High School baseball field lead Coleman-Pitt to an 11-7 victory over Clayton Post 71. Collins Cuthrell hit two homers, Spencer Bell and the Berry twins Thomas and Matthew and T J Taylor all show off their strength. Matthew Berry's dinger was with the base loaded and the score tied 7-7 in the 7th inning.

Post 58 opens conference play Tuesday night at 7.00pm at famous Fleming Stadium in Wilson taking on Post 13. Post 58 is now 5-3 on the season.

If you have not heard Bruce Rhodes who has coached baseball at S W Edbecombe for 24 years has retired from coaching. The reason Bruce's small son wants him to coach him as he goes through little league and upward. There may not be a better reason than family to give up something you love.

Lauren Doughtie my cousin who is trying to make it on the Futures tour failed to make the cut again this weekend. She shot 73-78 missing the cut by one shot.

Tiger Woods had gotten rid of his coach feeling that at this time in his career he can look at film and evaluate what ever his problems might be. Tiger's biggest problem is his tee shot. All the others parts are good but if he can't stay out of the rough he can't get great scores like he is use to. He finished 19th Sunday and looked average at best.

I heard about an incident that happened this weekend. The incident is of little consequence but the ramifications tell a lot about how we are as people. A certain person got mad with someone because they didn't know the rules. How many times as fans have we argued about how a call was made but we looked stupid because we didn't know the rule.

Back in my little league coaching days there was a play where my batter hit a high hopper off the plate and beat it out for a hit. He later scored what proved to be the winning run. Taking my team over to buy drinks after the game a parent of one of the players on the other team greeted me by saying had to cheat to win. Didn't take long to make the hairs on the back of my neck stick out and I asked him what he was talking about. Your player hit that ball off the plate and that was a foul ball. I ask the parent what made it a foul ball. He said the plate is in foul territory and when it hits foul it is foul.

First thing I suggested to him was to look at the rule book which I had in my back pocket. After showing him where the plate was in fair territory and even if the ball hit foul first it was where it ended up that made it fair or foul. I gave that rule book to that parent that night and said " go home and read it. It might save you some later embarrassment by knowing the rules that you want to argue over."

He and I became close friends still to this day.

Goodwin Ties 61 Year Old Tar Heel Record

Brian Goodwin's Dramatic two out bottom of the ninth two run triple last night was Brian's eight this year. This ties a North Carolina baseball record that was established in 1949. Tonight the Tar Heels who already today have survived an elimination game today take on Oklahoma and if they win they get another chance at Oklahoma Monday night. If they lose the season is over. Brian went 1 for 6 in this afternoon's victory over Oral Roberts and he will have at least one more game to become the record holder if he triples tonight.

What amazes me about Brian and this record is he has hit fifth in the lineup all year. The fifth hitter is of the so call 3-4-5 part of the lineup that suppose to be your power part of the order. Brian which I doubt any of us thought that he would hit seven home runs in his career had done well leading the team in rbi's with 61.

We all know that Brian is an ideal lead off hitter and Carolina is using another player there who is a senior. Next year look for Brian to lead off and move to center field. Hitting fifth in the lineup most of the time means runners are on base ahead of you which prevents Brian from stealing bases as well getting the extra base on a hit with a runner in front of you. I can think of five doubles that Brian had this year that probably would have been a triple but a slow runner was in front of him and had to stop at second. If Brian stays healthy he will probably own the career and season triple record before he is through.

Through Sunday afternoon's game the ACC is 14-4. Miami,Clemson,Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia all were 2-0 in their regional. North Carolina and Virginia Tech each with elimination wins today are 2-1 and N C State is already home for the summer as they went 0-2.

The aluminum bat almost makes college baseball look like slow pitch softball. There has been a 20-16 game and Coastal score 25 in a victory today. There are not many teams that have pitching to survive unless they out slug their opposition. If I had to make a college world series pick right now Virginia and UCLA seem to have the pitchers to last a while.

Game five of the Stanley Cup goes to Chicago 7-4 over the Flyers. Blackhawks lead 3 games to two.

Thursday night they were old and over the hill as La beat Boston in game one of the NBA finals. Tonight those old cagey Celtics beat LA 103-94 to even the series 1-1 in games.

Carolina has lost their second game this weekend to Oklahoma 3-2 after losing last night 7-6. The first time in five years North Carolina will not go to the College World Series.

Legion Wins Home Opener

Head coach Hank Jones continues to look over his flock of Post 58 baseball players trying to find the right combination that when Tuesday comes around and conference play starts he will know what each player can give him this season.

Post 58 sent five pitchers to the hill and they gave up 16 hits between them. They walked eight batters but the good news after nine innings North Raleigh with all those base runners score but seven times and four of those came in the ninth inning to give them a 7-6 lead.

Cameron Ramsey lead off the bottom of the ninth with a single, Mike Smith hit a ball in the infield in which the throw to first went in the dugout and sent Ramsey to third and Smith to second. North Raleigh faced with having to cut off the runners coming home to tie the game brought the infield in and outfield to little league death. Collins Cuthrell hit a high school routine fly ball to center which would have score the tying run but with the outfield at little league depth the fly ball hit the ground and roll all the way to the wall scoring both Ramsey and Smith. Game over Post 58 -8 Post 297- 7'

Ramsey and Cuthrell both had three hits in the game, Thomas Berry had a pair, Michael Whitehead, T J Taylor and Hobbs Johnson each had a single.

I know this is real funny to say but I believe the Legion has much better depth at pitching this year than last. Hard to say that giving up 16 hits. Post 58 is now 4-3 and play Sunday in the Durham Post 7 showcase. Tuesday night they open conference with a game at Fleming Stadium in Wilson against Post 40 who will have seven Hunt players for Tuesday night's game.

Speaking of Hunt: The Warriors just did not have enough good pitching to take on East Rowan, ER sweeps Hunt 9-3 last night and 15-10 Saturday.

Bumped into Whit Barnes one day this week. Man oh man has a red shirt year helped Whit or what. He looks about 20 inches thick in the shoulders and told me he was on the Wake Forest depth chart as a back up lineman heading into this football season.

Saw Billy Godwin tonight at the Dunn Center escorting his daughter Mallory during the Debu-ette Presentaion Ball. Billy cleans up nice in a tux but I told him I like it better when he wore Purpleand gold baseball uniform.

State is the only ACC team eliminated from the NCAA tournament. The ACC went 6-2 Friday and Virginia Tech the only other team to lose Friday won today. They will mean seven ACC schools will play Sunday including North Carolina who beat California 12-3 Friday. Rocky Mount's Brian Goodwin went 2-5 scored a run and stole a base.

Brian Godwin's two out bottom of the ninth inning triple driving in two runs help North Carolina get into extra innings with Oklahoma in the winners bracket game in Norman Oklahoma. Goodwin is 4-9 two rbi's two runs scored and a stolen base in his first two NCAA playoff games. Goodwin was left stranded on third which couldhave been the winning run for the Heels. Oklahoma score in the top of tenth to down North carolina 7-6.

The Wizard Of Westwood

It has been thirty five years since John Wooden coach a basketball game. Having watched the National championship game in 1975 it seems like just yesterday.

Influenced by being an ACC backer I never gave John Wooden credit for what he accomplished during his coaching days at UCLA. Won ten National Championships all of them in a twelve year period. It was after he retired that I came to respect Wooden. I heard him say in a TV interview that he never used the word win at any time while he coached. He asked his players to give him the best they had. The largest salary that Wooden ever made coaching was $35,000.

Just last year on one of the college basketball broadcast you could tell that his mind was very good and active. John Wooden was not your average win at all cost coach.

John Wooden was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame in 1960, not as a coach but for his playing. He was a three time All American at Purdue where he earned the nickname "The Indiana Rubberman" for his ability to dive on the floor for loose balls. Purdue won the national championship in 1932 with Wooden as a guard.

He even played pro basketball for the then Indianapolis Jets and to this days still holds the record for making 134 straight free throws which is the professional record.

Married to his wife Nellie for 59 years Wooden has wrote a love letter to her on the twenty first of every month since her death. Those letters are on her pillow today.

There is more to life than basketball and John Wooden live that until his death. he has been quoted "Basketball is not the untimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live. There is only one kind of life that truly wins and that is the one that places his faith in his savior".

John Wooden was truly one of the greatest ever in college basketball. Player or coach, but much more a great human being.

Opener Time Change

Once again for the third time the first pitch for the home opener for Coleman Pitt American Legion Post 58 has been changed. first pitch will be at high noon on Saturday June 5th. Orginally it was scheduled for 3.00pm then shifted to 7.00 pm and now back to noon.

I have a good idea why it has been shifted. Sunday Post 58 will play in the Durham Post 7 showcase against an unannounced team at 2.30pm. This show case will have pro scouts on hand to watch all the teams. Post 58's work out will be at 10.30 in front of the scouts giving our guys their change to show case their talents.

Hunt High School begins the dream that all players dream of growing up playing for the State Championship. Game one in the best of three series begins tonight at 8.00pm at Mudcat Stadium in Zebulon. Game two is at 2.00pm Saturday and if needed game three later Saturday night.

Brian Goodwin and the Tar Heels of North Carolina try to make it back to the College World Series for the fifth year in a row. The Heels will pitch their best in Matt Harvey tonight when they begin NCAA play in Norman Oklahoma. North Carolina State pitching is not quite as clear as the Tar Heels as State had to throw the kitchen sink at Virginia Tech Saturday night to make it to the finals of the ACC tournament and again on Sunday against Florida State.

Ken Griffey quietly retired from baseball earlier this week without much fanfare. Griffey a home run hitter who has never had one hint of scandal involving performance enhancing drugs during his career.

There is out rage all over the place for the umpire missing the call Wednesday night preventing a perfect game from occurring. Thursday Jim Joyce the umpire in question was behind the place and when it was time to exchange lineups like is done in every game from high school on up the pitcher(Armando Gallaragga) who lost the Perfect game presented the lineup card to Joyce. They both shook hands and Joyce was seen wiping away tears.

Missing in all of the bru-ha over the missed call is that Joyce once the game was over opening admitted he blew the call. In our world today we all have excuses lined up that someone else is at fault. Joyce took it like a man and in returned those imvolved from the pitcher to Detroit's manager and team mates used extreme class when talking about the miss call.

Every day in our life is a learning experience. How we handle each and every situation that comes before us, becomes part of us as life continues. Regardless of whether he gets credit for a Perfect game or not, Galaragga will forever be known for the perfect game that never was. To me Armando Gallaragga made it to the Hall Of Fame because of his actions.

There is still Sportsmanship in this world.

Oil Spill

The oil spill in the Gulf Of Mexico has been spewing oil for a month now and there is not really any hope in site that they (BP) has any idea how to stop it. I like all Americans wants 59 cent gas. We have up to this point been “give me gas at all cost” but this oil spill may be the back breaker. Signs that the oil is heading up river in areas along the Gulf is now happening.

The Valdez oil spill in Alaska back in the 90’s was 11 million gallons of oil. To this point the Gulf spill has just gone over maybe 40 million gallons. The Valdes spill was almost on shore when the tanker leaked where this Gulf leak is out in the middle of the Gulf more susceptible to current flows and more likely to damage more area and maybe even North Carolina.

Just maybe it is time as Americans to demand different type vehicles fuels than depending on digging in the ground. How long before that digging empties all the holes anyway? We are a people of convenience. Give it to me now. Just maybe it’s time to quit being selfish and think about something other than ourselves.

Every time there has ever been a disaster sooner or later the world recovered. Hiroshima was completely wiped out from the first atomic bomb. Today only memories of the disaster linger for those who survived. That area is once again thriving with over 1.2 million people living there.

The area around Mount St Helen’s which was destroyed by a volcanic eruption thirty years ago and wiped out nearly everything as far away as 18 miles is now some of the most fertile land in the Northwest United States.

Prince William Sound which was the area hit when the Exxon Oil Tanker Valdez ran a ground has recovered. It didn’t happen over night but recovery was made.


Humans destroy for their wants not for their needs. You can ride through Rocky Mount and see abandon building no longer needed in human wants. There is not much evidence of the flood of 99 except historical markers and memories.

Mother Nature destroys and then turns around and helps repair. Will Mother Nature help us humans out of this disaster in the Gulf? We are approaching Hurricane season. Will we get a big blow to help dissolve our mess or will there not be a hurricane at all in the Gulf this year. The biggest question of all is if there is a hurricane in the Gulf this year will the winds worsen and push the destruction further up rivers? Could the winds speed up the process of coming up the East Coast?

I have only been deep sea fishing in the Gulf Stream once in my life. That green water I saw in the Gulf Stream is Natures interstate highway of the Atlantic Ocean. If this oil gets in the Gulf Steam Europe may be affected.

What will we think if we ride across a bridge and the shores of the mighty Tar River look like Tar?

We will not know how bad it can get until they stop the spill. Until then anything is possible because the end is not yet in site.

Home Opener Rained Out

Is it just me or what, can any one tell me the last time a triangle team and I am talking legion played a game in Rocky Mount during the regular season. Yes, Cary was here last year for the Eastern Championship but somehow or other no one else seems to ever get here. We must have have that Down East syndrome or something. Tonight's game against Durham has been rained out. I got the call from Joe Bell around five when it was just drizzling and that tells me Durham called and said they weren't coming. Convenient ain't it.

Next game for Post 58 is Saturday night at 7.00pm at Gryphon stadium.

N C State announced today that Chris Schaeffer the Pack's starting catcher will miss this weekend Regional as he has lingering effects from being knocked out in the ACC championship game Sunday. The pack is making that dreadful trip to Myrtle Beach while North Carolina gets to go to Beautiful Norman Oklahoma. I have not seen ESPN's TV schedule for the weekend to see if we will be able to watch either live of if we will have to use Game tracker.

There seems to be no clear answer to what kind of tournament the ACC needs to hold in baseball that will not wear out the pitching of all the teams. The best scenario that I have heard is let 5-12 play day one just like the basketball tournament. The winners then play the top four seeds in a single elimination tournament. If a top four seed makes it to the finals then they will only play three games just like any conference weekend. If any body else makes it then they will have to play four games and that is the punishment for not finishing in the top four.

What I really like about this proposal is all teams play and every thing is important for every team playing. This round robin format just doesn't cut it.

Tiger Woods will try to hold on to the #1 world ranking this weekend as he once again returns to golf. I just don't understand how the world rankings works. Tiger has one top ten finish in the in the last eight months any yet he is still number one. Both Phil and Tiger are playing in Jack's tournament The Memorial.

How bout those Atlanta Braves, they have taken over first place from the slumping Phillies. I have a good feeling about this Braves team.

Tonight is game three of the Stanley Cup. Somewhere along the way I have lost my care for this years Cup. The Hurricanes have not played in seven weeks.

Hunt Plays For Title

The Big East will try to win the State 3-A title in baseball starting Friday night at 8.00pm at Mudcat Stadium in Zebulon. The Hunt Warriors will take on East Rowan. The 3-A game will be the second game of the double header in Zebulon as the first game will feature the 1-A teams of East Wilkes and Dixon.

Friday is game one, Saturday the 1-A plays their second game at 11.00am and then game two of the 3-A title at two o'clock. If a third game is needed the 1-A will go at 5.00pm and if necessary the 3-a will go at 8.00pm for the title game. If Hunt is forced into a third game and there is no need for a third 1-A game the East Rowan and Hunt will play game three at 5.00pm.

This you may recall this is the same scenario in which Rocky Mount won the title in 2008, however that year the 3-A played at eleven and then the 4-A follow and Rocky Mount won the title in the 5.00pm game. LET"S GO HUNT win it for the conference.

Nash County American Legion Post 58 will play their first home game of the year Wednesday night at 7.00pm at Gryphon Stadium. I will be doing the PA again this year and will try to let you know tomorrow the roster of this year's team. The Legion lost a double header Sunday at Shelby after they had played in Asheboro on Saturday. Heading into Wednesday's home game they are now 2-3 but I understand head coach Hank Jones is playing everyone, 23 in all as if they are still trying out for the team and there will be a cut made by weeks end.

I have to give it to coach Jones. He don't mind riding all over the country to play anybody if that will help him prepare the team for the conference play which starts next week. Conference play determines seeding in the playoffs not your over all record, especially since they are not playing any team any where close to us. He is playing teams that he might meet in the state tournament.

Three teams from the state of North Carolina made the NCAA baseball tournament. North Carolina, State and Elon. That's right Elon not ECU, Duke or Wake but Elon. They will play in the Georgia Tech regional. State is in the Regional hosted by Coastal Carolina will play at seven Friday night and North Carolina also plays at seven but they will be in Norman Oklahoma.

The more I watch Lacrosse the more I like it. I saw a replay of Duke winning the Lacrosse championship this afternoon and I like the fast pace of Lacrosse over soccer. Sometimes in order to put the final touch on the past Duke winning the Lacrosse championship can now put to rest the Duke scandal of four years ago than rock the Duke campus, the city of Durham and the State of North Carolina. It may not have rocked the world but the news media sure did plaster it all over the world. I hope this championship can help heal the injuries the Duke players suffered four years ago from lies.